Tafsiran Bilangan 1:10: Rabbeinu Bahya, Chizkuni & Tze'enah Ure'enah

לבני יוסף לאפרים, “For the children of Joseph,- for Ephrayim;” after the Torah had first enumerated all the sons of Leah it now turns to the sons of Rachel, mentioning Ephrayim ahead of Menashe the older seeing Yaakov had blessed Ephrayim first on is deathbed (compare Genesis 48,20). Afterwards the Torah mentioned the descendants of Binyamin. Although born last, the Torah honoured the memory of Rachel by mentioning him ahead of the sons of the maidservants. When listing the four sons of the maidservants, the Torah begins with Dan who was the senior of those four sons, whereas the Torah lists Asher next seeing that he was encamped next to Dan (compare 2,27). Next the Torah lists Gad who was the older of the sons of Zilpah. Next to him was Naftali.

לבני יוסף, “of the Children of Joseph;” they are mentioned after the children of Leah as a sign of respect to their mother Rachel. The Torah mentions the younger son Ephrayim first, as this is what their father Yaakov did when he blessed them before his death. (Ibn Ezra) Ephrayim and Menashe, though grandsons of Yaakov, are mentioned before his son Binyamin, as combined they represented Rachel’s firstborn son Joseph.

“From the sons of Joseph, from Ephraim” [1:10]. Bahya writes. Why did the verse not count the tribal leaders with Moses, in their order? Joseph was very young compared to the other tribes. The verse writes Joseph before other tribes in the counting. The explanation is that the verse first writes the children of Leah, who was Jacob’s proper wife. Then it writes about the children of Rachel, who were born afterwards. The verse counts Ephraim before Menashe, even though Menashe was the oldest. The verse does this because Jacob made Ephraim more important than Menashe. Therefore, the verse also places him first. Everything the verse does is for the honor of Rachel. Afterwards the verse lists Dan, Asher, Gad, and Naphtali. They were all older than Joseph. The verse does this to show that Joseph was from Rachel who was Jacob’s beloved wife. Therefore, the verse counts him first. However, Dan and Gad came from the maids, Bilhah and Zilpah. The one whose pedigree is greater goes first.¹⁰Bahya, Numbers, 1:10.